Molecular taxonomy ofCamellia(Theaceae) inferred from nrITS sequences

Abstract

Camellia, comprising more than 200 species, is the type genus of the family Theaceae. Currently, the interspecies relationship of the economically important genus is still a matter of great debate and controversy. In an attempt to help settle this dispute using molecular phylogeny, we analyzed ITS sequences of 112 species of Camellia. The maximum parsimony and Bayesian trees grouped these species into eight major clades and four isolates. The current study supported the monophyly of sections Thea and Furfuracea, a merged section of Theopsis and Eriandra and the formation of section Oleifera by H, -t. Chang (Flora of Reipulicae Popularis Sinicae. Tomus 49 (3), Science Press, China). The study suggested the polyphyletic nature of the sections Camellia, Paracamellia, Pseudocamellia, and Tuberculata and the paraphyletic nature of the section Chrysantha but did not support the sectional status of the three small sections, Archecamellia, Piquetia, and Sterocarpus. We also discuss the results in terms of morphology, geographic distribution and the results from an earlier molecular phylogeny analysis.

Floral morphology resolves the taxonomy of <i>Camellia</i> L. (Theaceae) Sect. <i>Oleifera</i> and Sect. <i>Paracamellia</i>

“…The formation of sect. Oleifera by Chang (1998) was also confirmed by molecular phylogeny (Vijayan et al, 2009). Differences among the classifications based on leaf anatomy (Lin et al, 2008) and leaf FTIR , and our results are highlighted in Figure 5.…”

“…On the basis of present study in conjunction with other studies based on leaf anatomy (Lin et al, 2008), FTIR Lu et al, 2008) and molecular data (Vijayan et al, 2009), we propose a bifurcation of sect. Paracamellia supporting Chang's (1998) creation of sect.…”

“…Lin et al (2008) showed area of adaxial and abaxial epidermal cell of C. grijsii and C. shensiensis nearly match, but C. yuhsienensis was larger. Pollen exine sculpture characteristics (Ao et al, 2001) and molecular taxonomy from nrITS sequence (Vijayan et al, 2009) also support the combination of C. shensiensis into C. grijsii. Close relations of these two species was also demonstrated in the dendrogram of FTIR data .…”

“…Some species of the plant are used to produce green tea, to cultivate as ornamental plants, and the seeds of others are used to produce edible oils (Lu et al, 2012). More than three million hectares of agricultural land is used to grow Camellia to produce in excess of 164 thousand tons of edible cooking oil (Vijayan et al, 2009). Obviously, the economic value of Camellia is significant.…”

“…Oleifera and sect. Paracamellia have involved data on leaf morphology (Lin et al, 2008), chemical composition analysis and molecular marker (Vijayan et al, 2009). However, the taxonomic position of a few species is still ambiguous.…”